Will Rahm survive?

The story of Chigago's Governor attempting to sell Obama's former Senate seat is getting

murkier and murkier

by the day and it now seems Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has some serious questions to answer. He has spent the last week

dodging the press

to avoid the inevitable question being asked of whether he had any contact with the Illinois Governor or any of his staff about the appointment. 

In an scandal worthy of the West Wing, the Chief of Staff looks to be on very thin ice and could well be forced out before Obama has even taken office. Such a sleazy scandal is a far cry from the message of trust and change that Obama put forward in his campaign and makes you wonder what else the Chigago political mafia have done for their golden boy. Emanuel is famous for being one of the nastiest most vicious little bastards in Washington and to him crash down in such spectacular style would bring a smile to many faces.

Most notably Emanuel has refused to answer whether he has been questioned by the FBI around this matter. If he hasn't yet or wasn't expecting to be, then he would have simply answered no.

Change we can believe in.

Superman and Flash Gordon

It seems to be a week of superheroes. Firstly we had Gordon saving the world, and now it seems that Obama's take over of the world is complete. The Miami art scene has officially crowned Obama Superman according to the

Spectator

.

A warning shot...

Over the last 72 hours Tory Bear hasn't been giving this blog his full attention as he has been locked in the library preparing for exams next week. He sadly hasn't had the time to report on the many Christmas parties he has been missing out on, though

London Spin

captured the majority view of the CF party it seems. However has been somewhat taken aback by the emails he has been receiving in this time.

There seems to be a concerted effort afoot to spread some pretty nasty things about certain members of the Conservative Future executive and the chairman Michael Rock. It's always the same, an anonymous google account or untraceable hush mail, used to send a vicious bit of gossip, rumour, slander, or just ridiculous conspiracy theories. Now TB has his fair share of crackpots emailing him like all bloggers do, but the connections and developments in these emails, and the lowest level mud slinging, has led him to believe they are coming from the same camp.

Let me just remind you all of one of the key reasons that this blog came about. TB was sick of the backstabbing and faux House of Cards attitude many activists had and wanted to blow the lid on that sort of behaviour, while injecting a well needed dose of humour. This blog is not a platform for anyone to spread lies on, do you not think TB would check these stories out? TB did check these stories out and they point back to someone's very grubby fingerprints, so this is your warning shot...

Back off, pipe down, grow up or you and your petty political games  get two barrels of TB exposure and it won't be pretty.

Exclusive: The Blue Revolution

TB has just received a very slick press release from London Conservative Future. Clare Hilley has called for London members to launch a blue revolution in the capital. The news comes as Miss Hilley, 24, was appointed regional coordinator for London with responsibility for encouraging activists, coordinating campaigns and attracting new members.  

“With the new structure in place it’s time for all London based activists to pull together and help deliver first class campaigning in 2009,” said Hilley at the Conservative Future Christmas Party in London.  

“Already this year we have had the stunning victory of the mayoral election campaign that was driven by Conservative Future activists. It’s now up to us to work together to show the party and the wider country that Conservative Future is a professional national campaign machine and a force to be reckoned with.” London based Conservative Future activists have already played a critical role in supporting candidates across the capital. Clare Hilley has already managed over 15 individual campaign days in 2008 in her role as chairman of the London South region. “I hope to build upon the success we have had in the London South area this year,” she added. Commenting on the news, seasoned campaign activist and newly appointed London deputy Peter Smallwood said “Clare has the energy, experience and commitment to make London a huge success and I look forward to working with her to set the benchmark for campaigning in London.” 

Wow that story just wrote itself!

UPDATE 17.10: Check out the slick new video released onto facebook earlier this afternoon: 

Tory 2.0

The official party

website

is today offering a ringtone of the moment that Gordon claimed to have saved the world. It's good to see the tories, once again, leading the way with online/modern methods. Granted phones have been able to do this for years but haven't seen anything like this out of any of the other parties.

Check it out here

or text "1346924" to +447797806195 to get "Gordon Brown "saves the world"" 

TB would be interested to see how popular this ends up being.

Credit where credit is due...

Now Tory Bear can't help feel that

Cllr Iain Lindley

 has always been somewhat cold to all things TB but he deserves a massive congratulations for his work in defeating the Manchester Congestion Charge referendum. Mancurians in their droves turned out yesterday to give Labour the metaphorical finger, and rightly so. In Cllr Lindley's area of Salford a whopping

84% of the voters

rejected the motion and turn out was 57% - impressive for a local government referendum. 

Well done not just to Iain for helping to get that vote out, but for the people of Manchester for sticking it to Labour.

Liberal Idiocy.

Thank you to the person who highlighted this

absurd post

on Liberal Conspiracy by Sunny Hundal. Apparently we should be dancing and rejoicing in the streets at the falling pound.  Tory Bear has often thought Mr Hundal to be a somewhat deluded chap and here is the evidence. Apparently "Anyone with half an economic brain can tell you that a sinking currency during a recession is a good thing because it makes our exports cheaper. Inflation isn’t a worry right now, deflation is. So a falling pound should be celebrated, not used as an economic football when you have nothing intelligent to say, Osborne."

Maybe Mr Hundal should take a moment out of his no doubt busy schedule to pay a visit, or even pick up the phone to one of the thousands of British companies that rely on imports before declaring the nation should be dancing. Maybe this obnoxious opinion would be some what altered by a moments thought for the managers and workers of those companies and how they are feeling knowing they could be out of a job by Christmas.  

Mr Hundal's comment is either deluded at best of damn right cold and callous at worst.

Caption Contest:

Ugh the whole photo is so uncomfortable.

Tell Preston Council where to go.

Tory Bear was rather ironically left speechless when he

read on Conservative Home

today that Preston Council have started to enforce £80 on the spot fines for

swearing in the street

. Not only was he dumbstruck at this abuse of power by a supposedly TORY council what really took the biscuit was the last line - "I think Preston Council might well have come up with a good idea."

Whatever happened to freedom of speech! TB sympathises in the fact that in days gone by this wasn't a problem and that people respected being around women and children and behaved appropriately. However just because society is going down the toilet it doesn't mean the state has the right to silence people and that local councils have the right to abuse their power. As

Scheineder

cleverly put it tonight how dare the state insist on citizens paying "money into a municipal swear jar."

Not only is this is possibly the most outrageous and ridiculous idea TB has heard in a long time, salt was added to the wound by the new editor of the

local government

section of ConHome Cllr Harry Phibbs. How can anyone who claims to be a member of a party that exists to defend the concept of British Liberty and freedoms agree with this absurd repression? TB can count on one hand, OK maybe two hands, the times that he has been this angry at what is normally a representative and balanced conservative editorial stance on ConHome.

Now he doesn't normally swear very much on here but if TB wasn't flying next week (sorry Lily,) he would get the train home via Preston, walk into the main street and say loudly and proudly to this nasty state infringement...

Fuck Off!

Why don't all PPCs do this?

Excellent idea from

Brandon Lewis

the candidate for Great Yarmouth:



Leading the way in the viral campaigns...

One goal - to bring down a government.

As Greece prepares for yet another night of civil unrest Tory Bear is wondering how long before something similer happens here...

Shush.

Tory Bear's new best friend Lily Kember has

hit back

at the media who have had a fully justified go at her in the Guardian.

The Devil has a warning for all those out there who were planning on doing the obvious trip to Lush once again for those last minute Christmas presents for the ladies...

Lush fund Plane Stupid.

Dammit - TB is a big fan of their "Prince" triple orange blossom shaving cream.

Quote of the century...

Gordon just said that he "saved the world" at PMQs.

Cue two solid minutes of laughter. The speaker was ignored and Brown mocked.

Keep taking the medication Gordo...


Update - As requested:

Comment Policy - a quick reminder.

TB would like to quickly draw your attention back to his comment moderation policy. Needlessly insulting (unless funny,) or slanderous comments will not be published. Or will any comments that refer to Tory Bear's alter ego.

For the record though Tory Bear is not jealous of Lily Kember, her class, education or relative "success". He also doesn't spend his life hanging out with basement bound right-wingers and as for ugly... well that's just not very nice is it.

TB would rather not have the hassle of moderating comments but that is in your hands...

Boris saves Christmas but...

Iain Dale tonight has the

exclusive

that Boris has defeated the PC brigade and saved Christmas at City Hall! It's great news that there will be Christmas carols this year, however Tory Bear is saddened tonight that other institutions slightly close to home are still so blinkered:

Oh well maybe next year...

Chilling...

Fantastic and powerful new video from the NO2ID campaign:



Creepy stuff.

Late notice...

Word is reaching Tory Bear from Birmingham that Caroline Spelman has today pulled out of an event at the city branch, with just three days notice. What could be the problem?

Well it seems Ms Spelman has today found time to write an

in depth piece

, some what on the defensive about how CCHQ is ready for the General Election. This is in light of the 24 sackings two weeks before Christmas. So a crisis there could be to blame, or is it that we are soon about the find out the results of the long awaited inquiry into the NannyGate affair?

Intriguing...

Hat-Tip - The Silver Fox

RC dust settles...

Offcially the creation of the new Regional Coordinators is a landmark in "the development of Conservative Future, which will deliver a far more responsive structure for all CF members.

We are Conservatives and localism is a key part of our ideology. The appointment of Regional Chairmen is key to this change. These people will work to improve the organisation in their regions, focusing on local branches and local activities."

However it seems this email shows just how difficult this interim period of introducing the RC's nationwide will be. It came late last night from a member who wishes to remain anonymous:

"I may have slipped into a coma at some point, but what exactly are these regional coordinators going to do differently to what was in place before? I'd get the odd hurried message from the area chairman (Chairperson?)  organising at the last minute a canvasing day through Facebook on the opposite side of the county and watch as he got narked that noone turned up. Will this new system be any different? Have we found the silver bullet?

I'm also rather surprised as to it being one person's job to coordinate activities over such a geographically vast area like the North West, North East, North Wales (which I grew up in), and South Wales. Transport at county level in quite an ordeal over this way (it takes twice as long for example to go from Holyhead to Aberystwyth than it does from Holyhead to Chester, and that's assuming you go by car, don't whatever you do mention trains). Will the general membership be expected to pay for these new RCs to travel from one end of their areas to another to coordinate us? Or will the RCs be expected to pay for it themselves?

I suspect in the end that the whole thing will end up as a Facebook group, with some hastily arranged event thrown up every now and again when one of the RCs gets picked up on for having done nothing on sites such as yours.

I don't really know what the answer is tbh, and I'm not privy to the NME thinking behind this decision. It strikes me as being another "bright idea" from London, but that could be that northern chip on my shoulder.  Perhaps it would have been better to have instituted a mechanism to hold ACs and NME members to account? I know, I know, a pipe dream...

The overall impression I get is that this just gives credence to Sir Humphrey's line "politicians like activity, it's their substitute for achievement". We'll no doubt are a flurry of activity to begin with, followed by the inevitable slide back to where we are bow, carrying on as if nothing has changed.

Which I suppose it hasn't, if you think about it."

We shall see eh?

The Student press dives in...

The Edinburgh University Student has

weighed in

to Lilygate.

Banter.

Listen to Lily...

Thanks to SkyNews you can now hear the very moment the law carried young Lily away...

You can hear the clipped accent of her

Godolphin and Latymer

education (£14,346 per annum fees,) as she is explaining her deluded attempt to save the planet.

There is only one thing worse than a hippy and that's a public school hippy wannabee.

And the icing on the cake? Well tonight Tory Bear is hearing unconfirmed reports from sources close to the greens at Edinburgh University about Miss Kember's choice of transport to get to the protest.

Surely there can't be any truth in the rumour she flew?